Floyd L,
you must be joking. Of course a wood carpenter's plane isn't a trade-item at
all in trades between Greenlanders and Inuits. Would be good if you read the
full article in the book I refered to as a starter instead of joking.

Inger E



"Floyd L. Davidson" skrev i meddelandet
...
Seppo Renfors wrote:
Inger E Johansson wrote:
of musk ox and a carpenter's special tool - a wood carpenter's
plane(McCullough 1989, pl 73).....
typical trade items don't you agree? :-)

I certainly would agree.

A knife, machete or axe would be "trade goods" - but not a carpenters
plane. What would Inuit do with one of them?

What would they do with one???? Plane wood. What else?

Ahhh.... now a ships rivet and chain-mail, I can understand..... they
are JEWELLERY :-)

Maybe to *you*. They would have been "raw material" to an
Eskimo during that time period. Useful for making tools...

I thought someone here at an early stage spoke of the lack of wood in
the
Arctic area, Greenland included.....

Sure but then deer antlers and the like can be shaped with steel
knives, axe etc - not so good with a plane.

What is this "lack of wood" business?

They've been building skin boats in the Arctic for at least a
few thousand years... with wood frames. Each and every one of
them with a wood frame. And while ships nails and chain mail
might have been seen as simply raw material that could be used
to manufacture useful tools, a carpenter's plane would have been
seen for exactly what it was, a tool of considerable value.

You all ever heard of drift wood?

--
FloydL. Davidson http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)